Despite being impressed by John Ford's epic Silent Western The Iron Horse,and finding some of John Wayne's (aka:the man who the Hip-Hop world would call:Da Duke!) "Lonestar" movies to be cheerful,easy going flicks,I have somehow completely missed ever taking a look at Ford and Wayne's highly celebrated collaboration's.With being in the mood of trying to pick up a good deal.
I recently decided to search round on Ebay in the hope of finding some interesting DVD's being sold at a good price.Getting near the end of the first page,I was thrilled to discover that a rare Region 1 boxset contains a number of Ford/Wayne films,some of which have not been brought out as individual DVD's was on sale for 5 more minutes without a single bid for 7 pounds!.Finding myself the only bidder for the item,I began to get prepared for at last taking a look at this amazing collaboration for the very first time.
View on the film:
Starting the film with a 5 minute scene featuring not one single word of dialogue,director John Ford tremendously throws all of the typical "high-sea" adventures overboard,to instead lead the SS Glencaim into murky Film Noir waters.
Using the crews "sudden mission" to create a strong sense of doubt amongst themselves,Ford wonderfully shows the bond that each of the terrific ensemble have,to slowly start to developing tears as they look around them and see nothing but sea and betrayal,with one of the most gripping sections of the movie being all of the Glencaim crew,suspecting that loyal crew member Smitty, (played by a great,uneasy Ian Hunter) may in fact be a Nazi,who is giving details away about the cargo that the ship is carrying.
Smartly going with a soft Swedish accent that never becomes a parody,John Wayne gives a terrific,understated performance as new recruit Olsen.
Staying on an equal footing with the rest of the ensemble cast,Wayne shows Olsen to be someone who is drastically using his young wits,to try and stop the very bowels of the ship from being torn apart by the turmoil of its own crew,and also doing well at using Olsen's youth and inexperience as a contrast to doubtful and more "mature" crew members of Glencaim.
In his elegant adaptation of not 1,but 4! Plays by writer Eugene O'Neil,screenwriter Dudley Nichols superbly never makes the various sources for the screenplay feel disjointed,but to instead smoothly join them,to create an unforgettable,down beat,brutal journey across the oceans.
For the scenes before all of the crew start getting a sense of paranoia and dread,Nichols shows the ocean to have a vice like grip on the lives of everyone,with almost all of the conversations that the loyal gang have on the ship being about its day to day running,and some slightly shady activates taking place on the ships port.
Checking up for trivia related to this marvellous film,I was extremely pleased to learn,that when talking about the movie to bio writer Maurice Zolotow,Wayne had said that: "Usually it would be Ford who helped the cinematography get his compositions for maximum effect,but in this case it was Gregg Toland who helped ford.Voyage is about as beautifully photographed a movie as there has ever been."
From the very first scene of the ship heading straight into the looming black clouds,Citizen Kane and The Westerner cinematography Gregg Toland creates one of the most dazzling and beautifully lit films that I have ever seen Fully displaying the brilliant deep focus style which he would expand upon in his next film,(Kane).
Toland uses the dept of field to build a tense, atmospheric feeling of isolation and paranoia,as the hope for the crew of reaching shore slowly deteriorates.Allowing the movie to fully sink in the Noir atmosphere,Toland expertly has high contrast lighting from outside the ships windows,be the only "light" to shine in the interior scenes,to show that despite a full crew,the SS Glencaim is ruled by shadows,fear and a haunting dread which will have a grip on the crew for the rest of their lives.
I recently decided to search round on Ebay in the hope of finding some interesting DVD's being sold at a good price.Getting near the end of the first page,I was thrilled to discover that a rare Region 1 boxset contains a number of Ford/Wayne films,some of which have not been brought out as individual DVD's was on sale for 5 more minutes without a single bid for 7 pounds!.Finding myself the only bidder for the item,I began to get prepared for at last taking a look at this amazing collaboration for the very first time.
View on the film:
Starting the film with a 5 minute scene featuring not one single word of dialogue,director John Ford tremendously throws all of the typical "high-sea" adventures overboard,to instead lead the SS Glencaim into murky Film Noir waters.
Using the crews "sudden mission" to create a strong sense of doubt amongst themselves,Ford wonderfully shows the bond that each of the terrific ensemble have,to slowly start to developing tears as they look around them and see nothing but sea and betrayal,with one of the most gripping sections of the movie being all of the Glencaim crew,suspecting that loyal crew member Smitty, (played by a great,uneasy Ian Hunter) may in fact be a Nazi,who is giving details away about the cargo that the ship is carrying.
Smartly going with a soft Swedish accent that never becomes a parody,John Wayne gives a terrific,understated performance as new recruit Olsen.
Staying on an equal footing with the rest of the ensemble cast,Wayne shows Olsen to be someone who is drastically using his young wits,to try and stop the very bowels of the ship from being torn apart by the turmoil of its own crew,and also doing well at using Olsen's youth and inexperience as a contrast to doubtful and more "mature" crew members of Glencaim.
In his elegant adaptation of not 1,but 4! Plays by writer Eugene O'Neil,screenwriter Dudley Nichols superbly never makes the various sources for the screenplay feel disjointed,but to instead smoothly join them,to create an unforgettable,down beat,brutal journey across the oceans.
For the scenes before all of the crew start getting a sense of paranoia and dread,Nichols shows the ocean to have a vice like grip on the lives of everyone,with almost all of the conversations that the loyal gang have on the ship being about its day to day running,and some slightly shady activates taking place on the ships port.
Checking up for trivia related to this marvellous film,I was extremely pleased to learn,that when talking about the movie to bio writer Maurice Zolotow,Wayne had said that: "Usually it would be Ford who helped the cinematography get his compositions for maximum effect,but in this case it was Gregg Toland who helped ford.Voyage is about as beautifully photographed a movie as there has ever been."
From the very first scene of the ship heading straight into the looming black clouds,Citizen Kane and The Westerner cinematography Gregg Toland creates one of the most dazzling and beautifully lit films that I have ever seen Fully displaying the brilliant deep focus style which he would expand upon in his next film,(Kane).
Toland uses the dept of field to build a tense, atmospheric feeling of isolation and paranoia,as the hope for the crew of reaching shore slowly deteriorates.Allowing the movie to fully sink in the Noir atmosphere,Toland expertly has high contrast lighting from outside the ships windows,be the only "light" to shine in the interior scenes,to show that despite a full crew,the SS Glencaim is ruled by shadows,fear and a haunting dread which will have a grip on the crew for the rest of their lives.